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Isaiah 50:4-9
Palm Sunday A
Illustration: America loves winners. We like it when our teams win. We celebrate the victors. We talk about our children’s successes in our Christmas cards and humble brag about promotions on social media. America celebrates winners. And the American church has, largely, followed suit. Of course, it’s obvious in the health-and-wealth “gospel” scene but we’ve…
Psalm 31:9-16
Palm Sunday A
Since the Lectionary each year gives us a psalm each for the Liturgy of the Palms (Psalm 118 most years) and the Liturgy of the Passion (Psalm 31 this year), each year we select just one of them to focus on. This commentary is on the Psalm 31 lection but if you would like to…
Ezekiel 37:1-14
Lent 5A
Lectionary Connection Chekhov’s Hope There is an adage of storytelling that comes from the world of theatre and it goes like this: any gun brought on stage in the first act must be fired by the final curtain. This is a direct reference to Anton Chekhov’s play, The Seagull, in which a character brings a…
Psalm 130
Lent 5A
As we near the conclusion already of the 2026 Season of Lent, this Year A psalm selection serves up something that is quintessentially Lenten in nature. The entirety of this fairly short song deals with two linked realities: Our human need to be forgiven of our sins and God’s divine penchant to be a forgiving…
I Samuel 16:1-13
Lent 4A
A Moment of Clarity Up until this point in the narrative, the narrator has most often relied on Samuel’s reports of God’s messages instead of, as we saw in his call story (I Samuel 3) God’s direct speech. A snippet of direct speech breaks through when Samuel first sees Saul and understands God’s intention to…
Isaiah 40:21-31: What Can You Reasonably Expect from God?: Epiphany 5B
I received a phone call the other day from a modern-day daughter of Job, whom I will call Mary. At one time Mary had been a pastor’s wife with 2 young children and a nice home, but her husband was extremely abusive and she had to get out of the marriage. The church did not…
Exodus 17:1-7
Lent 3A
Pastor’s Cut It is almost too bad that we are expected to preach this text to our congregations because, really, this is a story for pastors. Pastors following God’s guidance (wishing the pillar of cloud by day and fire by night was still a thing) in order to get God’s people where they are supposed…
Psalm 95
Lent 3A
We’ve all heard about stories, plays, TV shows, or movies that conclude with the proverbial “happy ending.” Probably because we prefer happy endings, we gravitate to story lines that provide one. I myself have never heard of anyone speaking about an “unhappy ending” and you get the feeling that this is because filmmakers and novelists…
Psalm 104:24-34, 35b: How Many Are Your Works?: Pentecost C
You wouldn’t think a wasp could do so much damage. Unless you are allergic to bee and wasp stings, getting stung by these bugs, though briefly painful and annoying, does not generally create any lasting effect or damage. However, about 150 years ago there was one particular kind of wasp that appears to have created…
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